Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin only learned about the deputy captain’s accident after they returned to the Qin City Police Station. Without stopping to rest, they turned around and headed straight back to the First Hospital they had just left—where the deputy was currently undergoing treatment.
By the time they arrived, Zhao Wu was standing outside the patient’s room, peering inside repeatedly.
“What’s the situation?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“It’s alright…” Zhao Wu had just started, when the sound of a doctor sighing came from inside.
“Stop crying.”
Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin’s hearts sank instantly. Too anxious to engage Zhao Wu, they walked straight into the ward. They moved so quickly they didn’t even notice Zhao Wu reach out to stop them, only to grasp at empty air.
Inside, the first thing they saw was the deputy lying in bed, half of his face covered in bandages. He hadn’t changed into a hospital gown yet; his clothes, scorched by the explosion, were a mess of grime and mud.
But that wasn’t the most striking thing. The most striking thing was the trail of tears streaming down the remaining half of his face.
“Was there a fatality?” Ji Xun whispered to Zhao Wu, who had followed them in.
“No,” Zhao Wu replied. “We got lucky. The most severely injured was the accountant who opened the door; the deputy came second. The other two officers who went with them only suffered minor abrasions and have already been bandaged. The accountant is in the emergency room, but the doctor is optimistic; his life shouldn’t be in danger.”
If there were no fatalities, then…
Ji Xun paused. “Is it his hands or feet…”
“No,” Zhao Wu said. “His limbs are fine. He has a mild concussion, some soft tissue contusions, minor burns, and some wounds that needed debridement.”
“?” Ji Xun blinked. “Then the deputy is…” Why is he crying?
“Old Mai, he…”
“That’s enough of that,” the doctor, holding a cotton swab, finally lost patience. He took off his white coat, ready to lecture the deputy like a disobedient grandson. “Stop crying! If you keep crying, the medicine on your face will have to be reapplied. Can’t you endure it?”
He could not.
The deputy didn’t speak, answering the doctor only with the tears continuing to pour from his eye sockets.
As the doctor’s face began to cycle through shades of white and blue, Zhao Wu quickly stepped forward. “It’s alright, it’s alright. Doctor, if you’re busy, just leave the supplies here. I’ll apply the medication later.”
The doctor took a deep breath and left!
Zhao Wu picked up the cotton swab and medicine. Instead of tending to the deputy, he turned to Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin, looking embarrassed. “It’s scientific. Some people have very sensitive pain receptors and highly active tear ducts…”
“Oh—”
“So…”
“Understood, understood,” Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin replied hastily, or else the embarrassment wouldn’t just be Zhao Wu’s, but the three of them combined.
Zhao Wu visibly relaxed. He turned back to the deputy, his expression one of frustration and disappointment. “You, why did you have to rush to the front like that? Do you think you’re a cat with nine lives to squander?”
“Can you blame me?” Although the deputy was crying from the pain, he refused to concede. “If you’re going to blame anyone, blame the criminals! And I suspect the accountant didn’t know the warehouse would explode, otherwise, he would have looked suspicious. Those criminals likely tricked him—probably told him something like, ‘If the police come, just enter the wrong code to signal us, and we’ll handle the goods in the warehouse.’ So the accountant entered the wrong code, which triggered the explosion.”
It was a long string of words, impressive given the deputy was speaking clearly while sobbing.
Still, seeing a rugged, macho man crying on the spot made everyone’s scalp tingle.
Zhao Wu quickly grabbed tissues from the bedside table to wipe the deputy’s face. “Take it easy… does it really hurt that much?”
The deputy retorted angrily, “Why would I be crying if it didn’t hurt?!”
Zhao Wu was speechless. After a moment, he used Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin as examples. “A month ago, our colleagues in Ning City were admitted to the hospital. They were injured a hundred times worse than you, and I didn’t see them crying non-stop.”
“…” The deputy turned his gaze toward Ji Xun. “Expert Ji, did you hurt back then?”
The answer hovered on the tip of Ji Xun’s tongue. Finally, meeting the deputy’s tear-filled eyes, he answered decisively: “Yes, it hurt.”
However, despite the crying, the deputy’s tears were purely from pain, not emotional distress. He remained clear-headed and calm while talking to everyone, especially Zhao Wu. “Old Zhao, pain is a physiological phenomenon, and tears are a physiological phenomenon. Don’t look at me like you have a toothache. Can’t men cry? Can’t police officers cry?”
“I absolutely never thought that. Don’t make things up,” Zhao Wu clarified hastily. If this continued, his ideological awareness would be questioned.
He looked left and right, spotting a bowl of shredded chicken porridge on the bedside table. The deputy had just asked for it; it had been piping hot when delivered, but now it had cooled down enough. He picked it up and handed it to the deputy. “Here, eat a couple of bites.”
The deputy opened his mouth: “Ah.”
“?” Zhao Wu was bewildered. “Eat it yourself.”
“?” The deputy was equally bewildered and snapped back, “I just survived a massive explosion! Is it reasonable to ask a patient to feed himself? Can’t you learn from our Ning City colleagues and help each other out?”
It did seem a bit unreasonable.
Zhao Wu reflected for a moment. Just as he was about to feed him, his peripheral vision caught sight of Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin.
Once they knew there was no life-threatening danger, they seemed relieved, standing with their arms crossed and legs bent, leaning against the wall watching them… They really were a couple. Look at Expert Ji—even though his hand was injured, he was still standing with his arms crossed. Not only did he not seem to mind the pain, but the angle he adjusted to was almost identical to Huo Ranyin’s! They say couples grow to resemble each other; this was ‘husband-husband’ resemblance in action.
At that thought, a weak electric current seemed to pass through Zhao Wu, making him tingle.
He thought further: if this pair were to be hospitalized together, they would surely help each other, feed each other…
The weak current became a strong one. If anyone were watching Zhao Wu closely, they would see him shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
He put down the bowl of porridge.
“I’ll get you a straw.”
“…?”
“Just drink the porridge through the straw…”
“Are you even human?!” The deputy was furious.
“Besides feeding you, besides feeding you, I’ll help you with anything else you need,” Zhao Wu promised immediately.
“Fine,” the deputy’s anger subsided slightly as he bargained with Zhao Wu, hoping to secure free labor. “Come keep me company tonight. There’s an empty bed in the ward; it’s yours. It’ll be easier for you to help me shower or wipe me down tonight.”
“Not a chance!” Zhao Wu jumped nearly a foot into the air. “In your dreams!”
The deputy: “…How is it in my dreams? It’s just sleeping in a hospital bed, right?”
Zhao Wu: “Is this a question about sleeping in a hospital bed?”
The deputy: “…Isn’t it?”
Zhao Wu sneered: “It’s a question of your world being too narrow-minded.”
The deputy: “???”
Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin didn’t leave, but when the deputy and Zhao Wu started their bickering, they moved to the hallway, leaving the space to their Qin City colleagues.
After hanging out in the hallway for a while, Ji Xun suddenly chuckled. “I know who saw it before.”
Huo Ranyin didn’t really care about that, but he was interested in something else. “When you were shot earlier, did it hurt?”
“Nonsense.” How could it not?
“Since it hurt,” Huo Ranyin stroked Ji Xun’s arm, “why didn’t you cry?”
Ji Xun lowered his eyelids, looking first at Huo Ranyin’s hand on his arm, then raised his eyes to meet Huo Ranyin’s face. “A man’s tears are not shed easily; it’s just…”
A mischievous glint appeared in the corner of his mouth as he leaned into Huo Ranyin’s ear and whispered:
“Not until we’re in bed.”
He watched as the light in Huo Ranyin’s eyes flickered, replaced by a raging flame.
Unfortunately, the two couldn’t delve deeper into this topic right there and then. Zhao Wu, having finished his battle of wits with the deputy, finally emerged from the ward.
Time for business.
Ji Xun spoke first: “The doctor who performed the surgery said the patient who was sent in is now out of the danger zone but remains unconscious. If we want to question him, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow or the day after when he wakes up.”
Zhao Wu nodded. “What do you two think?”
“The explosion wasn’t powerful enough,” Huo Ranyin said objectively. “The goal might not have been to kill or injure, but to destroy what was in the warehouse. Can anything still be found inside?”
“It’ll be difficult. The warehouses at the pier aren’t independent; they’re built in a row. The explosion at the Zhixian warehouse triggered fires in the others. It’s a miracle it didn’t hurt more innocent people. As for the contents… because the rescue wasn’t timely, everything has likely burned. Finding clues in the ruins won’t be easy. But if they dare to do this, the police won’t sit idly by and let them underestimate us.” Zhao Wu’s mouth twisted into a cold arc. “Captain Huo, I’ll combine the story Hu Kun told you with our current situation and submit a report to request professional ultrasonic equipment. We’ll check all the Buddha statues in all the temples across the city for hidden corpses. If we find them, they won’t be able to run…”
The explosion at the port warehouse had infuriated the entire Qin City police force, from top to bottom.
Zhao Wu’s report was approved immediately. By evening, as the worshippers dispersed and the temples closed, the police were working overtime, heading to every mountain, knocking on temple doors, and conducting internal scans of Buddha statues with the newly distributed ultrasonic imaging devices.
When the entire collective machine begins to turn, its efficiency is terrifying.
In just one night, all the notable Buddha statues in every temple in Qin City were scanned.
No corpses were found inside the statues.
It was now 5:15 AM.
It was almost 6:00 AM, but the sky was still dark—a gloomy, heavy blue covering the horizon, making the roads darker and the mountains steeper.
Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin were standing in the main hall of Daye Temple.
According to Old Hu’s story, the corpses were hidden here. But they had checked earlier, and there were no records of renovations at Daye Temple in recent years, which had led them to expand their search to all the temples in Qin City.
But what if the story Old Hu told didn’t happen last year, but much further back in the past, like the Luo Sui kidnapping case? If so, Daye Temple remained the most crucial place to investigate.
The results were in.
After a night of hard work, nothing was found in Daye Temple or any of the other temples.
“Was the story just a story?” Ji Xun muttered to himself.
Outside, it was still dark, so candles were lit in the hall.
The candlelight flickered against the Buddha statues, leaving halos of light and shadow. Within the halos, the colored lacquer shimmered.
This was likely the first time Ji Xun had observed a Buddha statue so intently.
This hall worshipped Sakyamuni Buddha, who sat in the lotus position with palms pressed together, flanked by two attendants on either side, with Arhats guarding them.
He looked at the Buddha; the Buddha looked at him.
Compassionate eyebrows and eyes, a posture of pity.
Was it really… just a story?
A strong wind blew in from outside the hall, extinguishing the candles and snapping Ji Xun out of his daze. He turned his head to look—the dark sky was now brightening. The red sun pierced through the clouds, lighting up the sky, and thousands of golden rays descended, washing away the darkness from the mountains and plains. Under the sun, the darkness retreated. Soon, even the shadows in the temple were dispersed. Even without the candles, every detail of the statues in the hall was now crystal clear.
Ji Xun stood up slowly. “Alright, since there’s nothing, then there’s nothing…”
“Wait,” Huo Ranyin said suddenly.
“What is it?”
“Look, that Buddha statue on the right, the Ananda disciple,” Huo Ranyin said. “In the sunlight, doesn’t it look brighter than the others?”
Ji Xun froze.
He looked again carefully.
Candlelight or lamps at night can never compare to the clarity of a bright sunny day. Now that the sunlight hit them, the details that were invisible at night were suddenly revealed…
Ananda stood quietly beside Sakyamuni. The bright red kasaya draped over his body was a shade brighter than that of Mahakasyapa, who stood quietly on the other side of Sakyamuni. It seemed as if the amount of gold powder sprinkled onto the robe was also much greater.
